Copper prices inched higher on Tuesday from a six-week low hit in the last session, as top metals consumer China cut short-term loan rates and reverse repo rates, and as a softer dollar made greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange advanced 0.1 percent to $8,300 per metric ton on track for its first session of gain in four.
The dollar index eased from a five-week high hit in the previous session.
China’s central bank unexpectedly cut key policy rates for the second time in three months, in a sign that authorities are ramping up monetary easing efforts to boost a sputtering economic recovery.
The most-traded September copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.4 percent to 68,240 yuan ($9,381.62) per metric ton.
But gains were capped as property investment in China extended its fall for the 17th consecutive month in July, and home sales slumped amid a deepening debt crisis, especially at real estate giant Country Garden
LME aluminum increased 0.4 percent to $2,154.50 per metric ton, nickel rose 0.2 percent to $20,135, zinc climbed 0.5 percent to $2,361, lead edged up 0.2 percent at $2,099.50, while tin fell 0.1 percent to $25,305.
